Kobe Bryant considered retirement last season because of overwhelming pain in his right knee and ankle, Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez said. Bryant eventually underwent orthokine treatment at the Center for Orthopedics and Molecular Medicine in Dusseldorf, which alleviated the chronic knee pain and gave him new optimism about his future.

Bryant "was really adamant about how great the procedure was for him," Rodriguez told reporters. "I know that he was hurting before, almost even thinking about retirement, that's how much pain he was under. And then he said after he went to Germany he felt like a 27-year-old again. I was still a little apprehensive about it and he kept staying on me about it."

Rodriguez underwent similar orthokine treatments on his right knee and left shoulder after consulting with Bryant.

"I gave him the phone number," Bryant said in December regarding his conversations with Rodriguez. "I just told him it made a huge difference for me."